Lyr Add: Drumsnot (Brian O'Rourke)

Subject: Lyr Add: DRUMSNOT (Brian O'Rourke)
From: MartinRyan
Date: 03 Jul 03 - 02:28 PM

We've mentioned this one a few times. It's a piss-take on the classic Irish songs about every nondescript little village or landscape feature. If at times it doesn't appear to scan - it's just that Brian also does an insider's piss-take on the art of decoration in song!

DRUMSNOT
(Brian O'Rourke)

Oh come all ye pleasant fellow peasants
    and listen to my song
It has twenty verses and what's far worse is,
    it's three times as bad as its long
Oh lend me your ears while I spill the beans
    about the place where I was got
For it's likely that you haven't much of a clue,
    about the place they call Drumsnot

Where my birthplace lies beneath Irish skies
    isn't easy to explain
Its not in the Pale or the Golden Vale,
    nor yet in the Central Plain
It affords no view of mountains blue
    and it sure is no beauty spot
And to date no county has claimed the bounty
    for admitting it owns Drumsnot

Oh, on Inishcarra and Gougane Barra,
    on Macroom and on Omagh Town
God poured out air of a fragrance rare
    that gained them high renown
On King Williamstown He showered sweetness down,
    on Lough Neagh and Glanlee and the lot
But those rare perfumes were all well consumed
    by the time that he reached Drumsnot

Ah but savage Nature, that lavish creature,
    Drumsnot did not neglect
For its stony fields with hoary weeds
    are gaudily bedecked
Them thistles, thorns and bouchalawns
    would be an ugly blot
Upon the face of any place –
    excepting dire Drumsnot

And all around wildlife abounds
    and leaps and creeps and crawls
And prowls and scowls and growls and howls,
    and fights and bites and bawls
And shrieks and yells and reeks and smells
    and kills and the devil knows what
And the ould triangle goes strangle-mangle,
    in the jungle around Drumsnot.

Now to sing of the birds, sure I have no words
    to express just how I feel
For the sweetest notes in their cheeky throats
    are the five pound notes that they steal
The sly magpie he rules the sky
    and ruins every garden and plot
And every songster is a fully-fledged gangster
    on the rampage around Drumsnot

Oh, we have no fleadh, we've no cine-MAH
    for to goggle at spectacles lewd
And Tim Lyons couldn't grouse about our eating-house
    that never heard tell of fast food
We've two broken down bridges infested by midges –
    and a gaming machine with no slot
And the meanest street between Kansas and Crete
    is the main street of Drumsnot.

Oh now you might guess that Drumsnot's a place
    where old customs they are held dear
And you'd be right for our faction-fights
    halve our numbers every year.
But our Gaelic tongue you'll as soon hear sung
    as the speech of the Hottentot
In fact we're distinguished for unspeakable English
    in the backwaters of Drumsnot.

Oh in Ireland's fight for her birthright
    we had no glorious share
For the Black and Tans with their trucks and guns
    never knew that we were there
Now they've gone away and 'tis sad to say,
    things haven't changed a jot
For in Leinster House neither Minister nor mouse,
    gives a sugar about Drumsnot.

Our hedge-master died in eighteen-o-five
    and since then we have had no school
And for all we see of C.I.E.
    we might as well be in Kabul
Ah but soon we might get th'oul electric light –
    and then again we might not
And the Christmas mail arrives without fail –
    around Easter in Drumsnot.

Oh a telephone kiosk or a Shi'ite mosque
    would be equal novelties there
So our smoky signals and dopey pigeons
    our urgent messages bear
And no motor car has yet got that far
    for the Spring Show could justly allot
For sheer scope and size a major prize
    to each pothole around Drumsnot.

We've no B & B's, no facilities
    for the stranger touring round
No Cead Mile Failte in your tracks will halt you
    if you tread on our tainted ground
If you're tracing your ancestors in parish registers,
    I'm afraid you won't here find a lot
Ah sure japers we barely can point out our parents
    in the shambles they call Drumsnot.

If you've a low opinion of our dominion,
    please don't broadcast your point of view
For although the locals are yobs and yokels,
    they have their fine feelings too
A bass-baritone weighing twenty-two stone
    dropped a hint that we weren't too hot
Well, he sang falsetto as he left our ghetto
    and staggered away from Drumsnot.

Oh 'twas in Drumsnot I was begot
    and there I squandered my boyhood days
And my youthful deeds they now recede
    in an alcoholic haze
When I grew a man, I drew up a plan
    and teamed up with a well-endowed mot
Her father owns the Rag and Bones –
    that's the only pub in Drumsnot.

By the effluent pump near the rubbish dump,
    I courted her right well
And we got engaged within seven days
    for she couldn't stand the smell
Then came the day in the month of May
    when we tied the fatal knot
And the wedding do was crubeens for two
    in the eating-house of Drumsnot

Now we live in a cabin with the thatch in ribbons
    and the rent we can barely pay
And all the roses around the door
    won't keep the wolf away
And all my dreams of pints so creamy,
    alas they have come to naught
For supplies of stout they did soon run out
    in the only pub in Drumsnot

Oh I wish I was far from the Shamrock Shore
    in some place where I might find work
And I tried of late for to emigrate –
    but I missed my lift to Cork
So to settle down in my native town
    has become my doleful lot
And to sink my roots and my hobnail boots
    in this dungheap they call Drumsnot

Now as you all know, some years ago,
    big blundering Uncle Sam
Tried to lift fifty-one of his native sons
    held hostage inside Iran
Ah but isn't it strange when 'twas all the rage,
    that the whole bloody world forgot
To break in and let loose us hundred and two poor hoors,
    marooned inside in Drumsnot.

Now, at last I must conclude, arrest
    and terminate this desperate ditty
And I hope you good people true
    by now feel for me some pity
And when at last my life is past
    and my bones have to moulder and rot
I pray God on high they won't have to lie
    in the cemetery of Drumsnot.

Its a while since I've heard it sung, so I'll need to rack my brains a bit more to identify the tune Brian uses.

Regards

p.s. In the notes to the album on which this appears, Brian gives helpful cultural notes on some of the more obscure references in the song. Mudcatters don't need that, do they?

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Drumsnot - the ultimate song of place
From: katlaughing
Date: 03 Jul 03 - 03:55 PM

Wordy bastard isn't he? **BG** Love it!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Drumsnot - the ultimate song of place
From: MartinRyan
Date: 03 Jul 03 - 04:44 PM

Very wordy! There was a (perfectly serious) proposal some years ago to exploit low levels of gold in Croagh Patrick, Ireland's holy mountain. Brian's song on the subject was entitled: Your place or mine?

Regards

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Drumsnot - the ultimate song of place
From: An Pluiméir Ceolmhar
Date: 04 Jul 03 - 04:35 AM

Brilliant!

After reading about a line and a half, without even consciously searching for a tune, I found myself mentally humming it to the tune of "Banna Strand".

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Drumsnot - the ultimate song of place
From: Snuffy
Date: 04 Jul 03 - 09:28 AM

With the internal rhymes, it put me more in mind of "The Rare Old Mountain Dew"

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Drumsnot - the ultimate song of place
From: GUEST,Martin Ryan
Date: 04 Jul 03 - 09:42 AM

Yeah - it sort of fits into many of them , doesn't it? I think he used the "Cruise of the Calabar" or thereabouts.

Regards

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Drumsnot - the ultimate song of place
From: GUEST,Maurice
Date: 04 Jul 03 - 03:58 PM

The tune Brian uses is "Ballyshannon Lane", but many tunes would fit.It's on his tape called "When I grow up" which is well worth a listen. His address was given in another thread.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Drumsnot - the ultimate song of place
From: TheBigPinkLad
Date: 04 Jul 03 - 05:51 PM

Try singing it to "Star of the County Down"

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Drumsnot - the ultimate song of place
From: GUEST,Learaí na Láibe
Date: 04 Jul 03 - 07:33 PM

I'd be afraid to sing that song in ANY village or small town in Ireland. It's brilliant. "Chantelle" - all 14 minutes of it - has to be his masterpiece though. What's happened to Brian, has he stopped composing since marrying and begetting his own offspring?

Gafa sa Láib

Learaí.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Drumsnot - the ultimate song of place
From: weerover
Date: 05 Jul 03 - 11:50 AM

I have words to Ballyshannon Lane, but unfortunately without the tune - abc anyone?

wr

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Drumsnot - the ultimate song of place
From: GUEST,John Moulden
Date: 05 Jul 03 - 12:09 PM

Brian has written a couple of songs since his marriage. He and his wife, Paula Carroll will be giving the singing workshops at the South Sligo Summer School in Tobercurry from14th-19th July.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Drumsnot - the ultimate song of place
From: MartinRyan
Date: 06 Jul 03 - 08:59 AM

Ballyshannon Lane, it is, give or take the odd musical license. To my ear, The Cruise of the Calabar is similar - but flatter!

Regards

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Drumsnot - extra verse
From: GUEST,Mikey joe
Date: 04 Aug 03 - 08:49 AM

Not sure how accurate this is trying to remember off the top of my head

If you dye-dill or diddle, or scrape on the fiddle, or meddle with box or bones,
Let it be quite clear, you're not wanted here; you'll be pelted with sticks and with stones.
There's a ceili band in some part of this land and their visit will ne'er be forgot.
They lost half of their crew and their didgeridoo in the massacre of Drumsnot.

No has onyoe got the words to Chantal. I started before but lost my tape and can't remember....

Mikey joe

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Drumsnot - the ultimate song of place
From: Noreen
Date: 04 Aug 03 - 12:56 PM

Wonderful! This'll be the chap who did Donal Og's reply that Donal Maguire gave me a copy of? I recognise the rhyming technique!

Love the 'crubeens for two' :0) but what are bouchalawns? I can guess from the context, but never heard the word before.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Drumsnot - the ultimate song of place
From: An Pluiméir Ceolmhar
Date: 04 Aug 03 - 06:34 PM

Na buachalláin: literally "The lads" - a noxious yellow weed which I think is known in English as ragwort, and whose presence farmers are required by law to report to the authorities.

I'd offer you a bunch only my wife might think I'm up to something.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Drumsnot - the ultimate song of place
From: Noreen
Date: 04 Aug 03 - 07:36 PM

Thank you Mr Plumber :0)

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Drumsnot - the ultimate song of place
From: MartinRyan
Date: 12 Aug 03 - 05:04 PM

Noreen

Yes - that's the lad! I was talking to him at the weekend at a festival in Feakle Co. Clare. In fine form, despite recent major surgery. He's quite happy to see his efforts posted at this site - and commends his tape to 'Catters attention! I'll repost his address later.

Regards

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Drumsnot - the ultimate song of place
From: MartinRyan
Date: 24 Nov 03 - 10:21 AM

As promised:


Brian O'Rourke
36 Lakeshore Drive,
Renmore
Galway

Regards

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Drumsnot - the ultimate song of place
From: GUEST,Dermot MacEnally
Date: 09 Jan 07 - 03:39 AM

Sure didnt i hear it sang on RnaG, played on John Spillanes Radio show of a Sunday night,tis only quality...

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Drumsnot (Brian O'Rourke)
From: GUEST
Date: 07 Nov 07 - 04:49 AM

But seriously, where can the lyrics of 'Chantal' be found? It is our duty to learn these songs and sing them for amazed foreigners.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Drumsnot (Brian O'Rourke)
From: Stewie
Date: 07 Nov 07 - 05:48 AM

Guest, the words to 'Chantal' have been posted in the forum. For the full set scroll towards the end of this thread: Chantal. The various verses are put together in a posting by 'Guest/Wiredgoose'.

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Drumsnot (Brian O'Rourke)
From: Micca
Date: 07 Nov 07 - 08:30 AM

I heard Finbar do this song and the "Donal Ogs reply" song at Sharps early this year and they are Hysterical, I was completely knocked out by the wonderful use of language and rhyme that Mr O'Rourke uses both accenting and taking the p*** out of the more "artificial" ways of decorating songs at the same time, Many thanks to himfor a splendid piece of work.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Drumsnot (Brian O'Rourke)
From: MartinRyan
Date: 17 Mar 08 - 03:30 PM

Refreshing this before we Irish disappear forever under the Paddy's Day tsunami of tsentimentality!

Regards

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Drumsnot (Brian O'Rourke)
From: GUEST
Date: 22 May 08 - 09:12 AM

I believe i bought one of the last available copies of when i grow up in Zivago in galway years ago . I lost the cassette is it available on CD i wonder . Love the site

Keep her revvin
The Duff

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Drumsnot (Brian O'Rourke)
From: GUEST,Martin Ryan
Date: 22 May 08 - 10:33 AM

GUEST

Brian talked of putting out a CD version a while back - but it hasn't seen the light of day yet.

Regards

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Drumsnot (Brian O'Rourke)
From: GUEST,Seadew
Date: 01 Mar 09 - 08:23 PM

Just received a wee recording of this and Chantal by Brian O'Rourke from a friend, this is brilliant ! Could not have appreciated it completely without this thread, thank you !

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Drumsnot (Brian O'Rourke)
From: MartinRyan
Date: 02 Mar 09 - 03:14 AM

CD published. Details later.

Regards

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Drumsnot (Brian O'Rourke)
From: GUEST,pazbhan
Date: 09 Oct 09 - 03:20 PM

Hi Martin Ryan,

Have you any details yet on Brian O'Rourke's CD?

All the best

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Drumsnot (Brian O'Rourke)
From: GUEST
Date: 09 Oct 09 - 03:37 PM

At the moment, Brian seems to be selling the CD/Booklet through singers clubs and festivals in Ireland - aided and abetted by his young daughters, whom it is impossible to refuse! I don't know of any online availability, as of now.

Best Wishes.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Drumsnot (Brian O'Rourke)
From: GUEST
Date: 10 Oct 09 - 04:23 PM

In fact, the first run of the CD has sold out - thanks to the children? A second batch is expected soon and will be sold through Custy's Music Shop ,online.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Drumsnot (Brian O'Rourke)
From: GUEST,Bas ten Asbroek, the netherlands
Date: 25 Apr 17 - 10:01 AM

I had the fortune to hear Brian sing his songs at the Fleadhs in Sligo, around 1992.Chantal lasts only for 15 minutes, and no stand up comedien could do any better. His lyrics are very refreshening, his singing is mighty. He has a strong way of attracting people to his song.
Mighty singer, and kind man.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Drumsnot (Brian O'Rourke)
From: Ross Campbell
Date: 13 May 20 - 06:14 PM

First heard this song about three years ago at a song session in Monica's pub in Drumshanbo. Don't recall the singe's name now, but he turned out to be a former colleague of my friend Bev Whelan when she worked at Dundalk University.

Brian O'Rourke was the guest at one of the great sessions in McHugh's of Glenfarne last year when Celia and I were over. His "Carnations" song is as brilliant as "Drumsnot". Links to both below (and "Chantal de Champignon")

Brian O'Rourke sings "Drumsnot".

"Carnations"

"Chantal de Champignon"

Ross